Evidence isn't enough to solve The Outsider's mysteries in new trailer for HBO's Stephen King adaptation

“A human being cannot exist in two realities at the same time,” Cynthia Erivo says in this new trailer for HBO’s The Outsider. The series, helmed by The Wire’s Richard Price and based on a 2018 Stephen King novel, follows a detective played by Ben Mendelsohn who’s got a child murderer dead to rights, until he doesn’t.

This new trailer digs deeper into the knotty, brain-deadening contradictions warping what should be an open-and-shut case, with Erivo’s Holly Gibney—a recurring King character—guiding local law enforcement towards a conclusion that defies logic. The Outsider is a whodunit of the highest order, but, thanks to King’s influence, the story extends far beyond the prestige crime drama of something like True Detective. (That said, it seems to be taking a few cues from it visually.)

Here’s an official synopsis:

Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Outsider begins by following a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy. But when an insidious supernatural force edges its way into the case, it leads a seasoned cop and an unorthodox investigator to question everything they believe in.

The Outsider premieres on HBO on January 12.